WNS to acquire Aviva's BPO unit for $228 million, secures $1 billion multi-year contract

"Aviva will be an active partner during the transition period, and we are confident that our integration plans will result in a smooth transition. We also see significant potential to grow our business with Aviva, not only outside the UK, Canada and Ireland, which AGS serves today, but also in new high growth areas such as analytics," he said.

"Insurance is in general a stable industry in recession. It's a good industry to do business in these times and Aviva Global Services gives us the credibility to expand further in the industry," Bhargava said.

The BPO industry, Bhargava said, "offers an addressable market of $20-30 billion dollars by 2012."

Insurance is "one of the most attractive industry segments to target for BPO services. This acquisition enhances our leadership position in the insurance BPO segment," he said.

This is the third major acquisition made by WNS this year. Last month, it acquired Business Applications Associates and in April, it acquired a British auto insurance claims-processing services provider, Call 24/7 Ltd.

As a result of the contract and acquisition, WNS has also revised its revenue and net income guidance for FY09. The company now expects its revenues for the current fiscal year to be between $425 million and $435 million as against earlier projection of $373 million and $378 million.